Photo of the author, Rabbi Jonah Winer

Yom Kippur: Atoning for Our Patterns

While we don’t make the same mistakes each year, the mistakes we make come from similar places. Repentance is a way of approaching the struggles at the core of our being, rather than just feeling guilt for discrete acts of harm.

Responsibility, Guilt, Teshuva

Sources and guiding questions to help inspire and support Jewish clergy as they bring the ethical teachings of our tradition to their communities this High Holiday season.

Ladino socialist publication La Bos del Pueblo. Credit: New York Public Library.

A MULTI-ROOTED MOVEMENT: Sephardic Activists and Horizontal Alliances in the Early 20th Century

New scholarly work on how Jews of past generations advanced groundbreaking multiracial coalition work, and what the tensions they faced — including racism within the Jewish community — say about conditions today.

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Prayer for North American Jews on the 75th Anniversary of Israel’s Founding

by Rabbi Ayelet Cohen
A prayer by Rabbi Ayelet Cohen for the State of Israel.
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Connecting Parshat Tazria-Metzora to the Moment in Israel

A resource for clergy speaking about Israel at 75.
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The backs of an audience watching a T'ruah presentation.

Israel at 75 Resources for Clergy: Shabbat of April 21-22, 2023

As Jewish clergy we have an obligation to raise our moral voices against injustice being perpetrated at home and abroad.
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Resources for Responding to Violence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Prayers, text studies, divrei Torah, and general advice to the Jewish community, particularly American Jews, about how to help end the occupation.
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Elevating Our Hearts and Spirits Towards Justice

by Rabbi Jonathan Biatch
The Mishkan was not just a compound our ancestors built; it is a state of mind that we can inhabit.
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Finding the Roots of Our Neighbor’s Home

by Rabbi Ariana Silverman
The al-Walaja olive tree is one of the oldest trees in the world... Today, as it bears fruit for this generation of residents, it also bears witness to the State of Israel demolishing the homes of some of those residents.
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Choosing Justice Over First-Born Status

by Rabbi Lev Meirowitz Nelson
Firstborns can be supplanted in many different ways, not all of them virtuous.
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Meeting the Other Face to Face

by Rabbi Danielle Stillman
In the grand scheme of the occupation, individuals or small groups coming together might seem like a small thing, but Jacob and Esau’s meeting shows us just how powerful personal moments of meeting and reconciliation can be.
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Trampling over the Torah

by Cantor David A. Lipp
We should never assume our success is rubber-stamped or approved forever. Our actions can always be re-evaluated, and based on prophetic precedent, God tends to hold us to a higher standard of behavior than our neighbors, not a lower one.
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The Symbolism of Planting During a Shmita Year

by Rabbi Lev Meirowitz Nelson
While we are deeply connected to the land of Israel, with spiritual roots that seek to implant themselves in its rich soil, connection is not predetermination. What we build on top of the land, as a civilization with our own agency, matters just as much. Whom we build it with matters.
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